


Valentine's Day

by nancyboy



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, GOD this is so soft and fluffy, IBALMOST CRIED WRITING THIS IM SUCH A CHEESE BALL, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 19:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13688040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancyboy/pseuds/nancyboy
Summary: "Oh right, the 14th is Valentine's Day." Enjolras shrugged. "I forgot."Jehan turned around violently in shock. "You FORGOT?!" He sighed. "Oh Enjolras, you absentminded beauty."Enjolras turned red, half blushing, half in anger. "I am not absentminded!" He said defensively. "And who cares anyway? It's just another product of capitalism to suck money out of the consumer. It's a despicable holiday really. You should be encouraged to love your significant other year round, not save your love for one stupid day."





	Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> edited by the lovely [catherine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milliganopen/pseuds/milliganopen) once again! give her extra love it's valentine's day. even tho shes super sassy in her editting >:[. im aware i over use 'smirked' and 'grinned' catherine.

Enjolras sent a text to the group chat about the specifics of an upcoming meeting he was planning without much thought. Usually no one would object. They would just take in the information and show up come meeting time. Occasionally, someone would report that they couldn't make it, but it was nothing to this scale. Before he knew it, his phone was blowing up with messages and buzzing nearly every second. Enjolras couldn't place what he could have possibly done wrong.

Soon enough, Jehan was barging into his apartment, his other friends following behind. "How DARE you?" Jehan roared dramatically, poking Enjolras's chest.

"What do you mean?" Enjolras said, really confused why his friends were suddenly storming his apartment in protest.

"You evil bastard. The AUDACITY! I am ASTOUNDED you had the GALL to plan a meeting on Valentine's Day!" Jehan said dramatically, walking around the room as if it were a stage.

"Oh right, the 14th is Valentine's Day." Enjolras shrugged. "I forgot."

Jehan turned around violently in shock. "You FORGOT?!" He sighed. "Oh Enjolras, you absentminded beauty."

Enjolras turned red, half blushing, half in anger. "I am not absentminded!" He said defensively. "And who cares anyway? It's just another product of capitalism to suck money out of the consumer. It's a despicable holiday really. You should be encouraged to love your significant other year round, not save your love for one stupid day."

All his friends stared at him. For once, none of them were agreeing with him. It felt strange.

Grantaire, who was lounging on the couch in boredom, was the first to speak. He never thought he'd see the day where it was comforting that Grantaire was arguing with him. He'd much rather argue with someone he's argued with many times than someone who's usually agreed with everything he said.

Grantaire cleared his throat. "It's a special occasion. Sure, you should love your partner year round, but it's nice to have a day to devote entirely to love. It's like an anniversary. And it doesn't have to be about capitalism, or whatever. In fact, it's almost even more sweet to handmake things for your partner. Earlier this week I was feeling a little glum you could say, and Joly made me make cards with him to cheer me up. It was surprisingly delightful."

They were valid points. Grantaire, the bastard, always made valid points, despite making Enjolras want to scream because of how cynical he was. "I still can't stand for a holiday that promotes capitalism. You know how I celebrate Christmas, after all."

Grantaire sighed. Enjolras just then noticed that he was sluggish and most likely hung over and frowned. Grantaire obviously didn't have enough energy to argue anymore.

Grantaire yawned. "Look Enjolras, I don't care what you think about the holiday. But you can't do this to your friends."

"I really wanted to spend the day with Bos and Chetta." Joly said sheepishly.

"Ferre and I had plans for a hot date." Courfeyrac added.

Enjolras sighed. Alright, I'll cancel the meeting."

Courfeyrac grinned. "We knew you'd cave."

Before he knew it he was crushed in a group hug.

~*~

  
Enjolras was curled up reading in his study on the evening before Valentine's Day (which would have passed by without him knowing if not for a certain incident involving his friends the day before) when he felt his phone buzz in his lap.

 **Jehan** : I have a proposition.

Whatever this was, he knew he wasn't going to like it, but also that he couldn't possibly refuse. Jehan's oozing charisma was truly remarkable. It was almost impossible to believe how charming he could be.

 **Enjolras** : What is your proposition?

He asked, despite really not wanting to know. If he didn't answer Jehan would just barge into his apartment, and Enjolras wasn't particularly in the mood for the commotion.

 **Jehan** : I'd like you to appreciate how special Valentine's Day is.  
**Jehan** : So, I'm gonna have one of our friends spend the day with you.

He sighed. It's better to be complaisant. He really wasn't in the mood to argue, preferably he'd like to get back to reading as soon as possible.

 **Enjolras** : Which one?  
**Jehan** : Grantaire.

Enjorlas almost laughed. Out of all of his friends, Grantaire was the last one he'd expect someone to set him up with, even with platonic intent. They clashed. All they ever did was argue.

 **Enjolras** : Grantaire.  
**Enjolras** : Are you serious?  
**Jehan** : You overexaggerate your feud with him, really. He does like you.  
**Enjolras** : Out of all our friends.  
**Enjolras** : Why him?  
**Jehan** : Most of us are taken, Enjolras. I mean, I'd do it myself, but I have to woo some pretty boys with some pretty words.  
**Enjolras** : Feuilly isn't taken.  
**Jehan** : Feuilly would be a wreck trying to make you fall in love with Valentine's Day. He'd need so much coddling. He works so hard and is so lovely, but he's more of a follower.  
**Enjolras** : Still... Grantaire?  
**Enjolras** : We'd spend the whole day arguing.  
**Jehan** : He's our only hope in the mission to make you realize how lovely this holiday can be.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

 **Jehan** : Can you just do this for Grantaire?  
**Jehan** : He's had a really rough time lately, and I think a nice Valentine's Day would do him a lot of good.  
**Enjolras** : If it's for the wellbeing of a friend, then fine.

It was settled. He'd spend his February 14th with Grantaire, of all people.

He was getting ready for bed when he felt his phone buzz again. He glanced down at the screen.

 **Grantaire** : just wondering for scientific purposes ofc whats ur fav animal?

Enjolras felt himself smile. He quickly typed out a reply.

 **Enjolras** : I'm quite fond of cats.

It didn't take him very long to fall in to deep slumber after that.

~*~

The doorbell to Enjolras's apartment rang at around 9:30 Valentine's Day morning. Enjolras knew Grantaire was coming, but still was shocked when he saw it was him at the door. Grantaire was an infamously late riser.

Not only had Grantaire shown up earlier for him, he also was holding an array of gifts. Enjolras was completely speechless.

"Good morning sweetheart!" Grantaire said as he walked in, placing the things he was holding on a table. "I come bearing gifts, all home made so you can't go on an anti-capitalistic rant."

Enjolras just stared at him. It felt surreal.

"Here's my card I made for you with Joly the other day." Grantaire said, traversing with the card in his hand.

Enjolras took it.

It was beautiful. Grantaire must have spent a ridiculous amount of time to achieve such beautiful paper crafting. It was a portrait of Enjolras himself, raising a red flag up in the air triumphantly. Underneath was a caption: 'You start a revolution in my heart', scrawled in messy handwriting (which made a smile tug at Enjolras's lips, because of how it clashed with the beauty of the card). This alone was too much to handle. And Grantaire had more.

"I got all the typical Valentine's gifts here for you, if I'm gonna make you love this holiday I gotta go all out." Grantaire explained, returning to the table to grab another gift. He handed him a wooden heart shaped box, painted red with beautiful golden details. Inside it was at least a dozen heart shaped cookies.

"Chetta helped me bake them, so you know they're good." Grantaire said, grinning. "They're vegan too and everything. You can't keep the box though, sorry. Bossuet made it for Joly and Chetta last year, I painted it by the way, and it has sentimental value for them. I wouldn't have used it but I had to stick to a homemade only theme, and its the only thing we could figure out. And sorry they're not chocolates, that would have been a little difficult to make, especially on short notice."

Grantaire grabbed another gift from the table. "Hey, remember that bakery that refused to bake cupcakes for your LGBT group meeting a few years back? I mean, sure it brought you to the Musain, and Joly and Bossuet got to meet Chetta, but I know it still irks you. Well, I stole these from the planters in front of the store." He showed him a few red carnations, already beginning to wilt. "I'll go put these in water." He took a mug from Enjolras's cabinet and places them inside.

"This is my last gift." He said, handing Enjolras a stuffed red cat. "It's hand sewn too... uh... with a machines help though." He grinned at him

"Scientific purposes huh?" Enjolras grinned, smiling goofily like a fool. Enjolras beamed at Grantaire. "Grantaire this... this is so thoughtful and amazing. You really didn't have to do this, you know."

"Anything to prove that I'm right." Grantaire smirked.

Enjolras kept grinning, having a feeling that it was more than that. "Of course."

"Though, admittedly, it was pretty hectic trying to get all of this together in one night." Grantaire scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "And it was hard getting up and looking presentable."

Enjolras looked at Grantaire. He definitely looked more put together than usual. Enjolras grinned.

"If you think that's all I've had planned though, you're very wrong." Grantaire smirked.

For once in his life, Enjolras was actually excited for Valentine's Day.

~*~

"The objective of today is to have you experience as many cliché dates as possible. Except, without the capitalism or whatever." Grantaire said as they walked. Soon enough, Enjolras realized they were heading towards the park.

"First up." Grantaire said as they entered the park. "Picnic. Food all prepared by yours truly, because that's cuter. Be prepared for nothing grander than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheap wine, though."

When they arrived, everything was already set up for them. Ikea cutlery and plates were arranged on a red blanket in the shade of a grand oak tree. A picnic basket was close by.

"Feuilly set it up for me this morning." Grantaire explained. "That's why I spent so much time giving you your gifts."

Enjolras smiled at him. "It's lovely," he said, sitting down on the blanket.

"First course, we have a salad, made fresh from ingredients from Cosette's garden." Grantaire pulled tupperware with cut up vegetables and lettuce out of the picnic basket. He also pulled out one containing a viscous liquid, presumably salad dressing. "I must admit, I didn't make the dressing myself. I needed Chetta's help for that."

"And for our beverage..." he pulled out two wine glasses. "Wine." He grinned, placing the wine glasses on the ground and reaching into the basket in search of the wine. "Unfortunately I couldn't make my own wine, even if I was daring enough it's impossible to make wine in such a short span of time. I hope you can make one exception."

Enjolras rolled his eyes, but not in the same way he usually did with Grantaire. This was more playful, not seething annoyance. It was a nice change.

"This salad was delicious." Enjolras said after totally wolfing it down. Nothing beats fresh home grown produce.

"Well, I already spoiled the main course." Grantaire said, pulling the sandwiches out of the basket.

"Is there a dessert?" Enjolras asked, taking a sip of his wine.

"Of course, but you have to eat your entrée first." Grantaire smirked.

They ate their dinner, and then when they were finished Grantaire pulled out a single tall glass and a water bottle. "I made a smoothie. I would have prefered a milkshake, but you're vegan and all." He poured the smoothie into the glass. "Cliché date number two, sharing a milkshake, or in this case, a smoothie." He placed two straws in the glass.

It was an endearing, but awkward exchange. It would have been easier if they had a table to rest the glass on. Instead, Grantaire had to hold the glass between them. At first Enjolras tried to avoid taking a sip at the same time as Grantaire, but eventually his luck ran out. And their faces were close. Enjolras was sure their faces had been this close before in the midst of an argument, but this was different. He was fully aware of it now, not blinded by frustration. He felt his face heat up. Grantaire pulled away bright red and averted his gaze. "Sorry." Grantaire muttered.

It was more awkward after that. After the smoothie was finished Grantaire stood up. "Alright! Time for cliché number three."

The tone changed very quickly, to Enjolras's relief. Grantaire, to Enjolras's surprise, pulled him up to his feet and dragged him away again.

"I chose this park for a reason." Grantaire said, and soon enough a frozen pond with a few skaters on it came into view.

Enjolras turned a light pink. "Oh my god, Grantaire. I can't ice skate. I'd make a fool of myself."

"That's half the fun! Besides, I'll teach you." Grantaire blushed a little. "I uh... took figure skating until I was fourteen."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, that and ballet. I really wish I didn't stop. I just got bullied a lot and it got too much." He frowned.

"I don't have skates." Enjolras said regretfully.

"I have a spare. I've planned this whole thing out, Enjolras." Grantaire smiled. He looks down at his phone. "Feuilly's here with the skates. I'll be right back."

Enjolras was completely right. He did make a fool of himself, falling on his ass as soon as he stepped onto the ice. Grantaire laughed and held out a hand to help him up.

"Here, hold my hand. I'll help you balance."

Enjolras nodded and followed his instructions. The ice rendered him completely helpless. Grantaire patiently instructed him, and before long Enjolras was starting to get the hang of it. Well, kind of. He was still very bad.

Enjolras sighed. "I'm holding you back. You could skate laps around me but yet you're stuck next to me, moving at a snail's pace."

"The point of this is to have fun with you, Enjolras! I can go skating for fun anytime. This is about you." Grantaire gushed.

Enjolras smiled like an idiot. "I'd still love to see you skate, though."

"Well, I suppose you can take a break. I'm out of practice, but I can still land a few jumps." Grantaire said. He helped Enjolras off the ice. Enjolras sat on a bench on the side of the lake.

Watching Grantaire skate was stunning. He was so graceful and his skating was truly gorgeous. He did a lap and then jumped, performing a toe loop. He landed perfectly. He learned more about Grantaire in these couple hours than he had in the years he's known him. He felt guilty for never making an effort to know him before, because underneath all that cynicism was a wonderful human being.

Grantaire did one more jump and after that another lap and then skated up to Enjolras. "I think that's enough showing off."

"That was so beautiful Grantaire," Enjolras beamed.

Grantaire flushed. "It really wasn't special, just a few basic jumps."

"You should consider ice skating again," Enjolras said seriously.

"I wish I could." Grantaire sighed. Before Enjolras could say anything else, Grantaire's phone buzzed and he glanced down at it. "Ah! Cliché number four's ready." Grantaire said excitedly. He sat next to Enjolras and took off his skates.

"Let's go, back to your apartment." He said. Enjolras nodded and they walked to his apartment.

When they walked in, Enjolras saw an acoustic guitar sitting on a stand in his living room.

"Cliche number four. Serenade." Grantaire flushed. "I guess technically I could have covered a song, but I thought writing my own would keep with the homemade theme. Plus, it's sweeter. Jehan helped me write this, so anything beautiful I say in this was probably all thanks to him."

Grantaire shrugged the guitar strap around his shoulder and began to play. His voice was rough and melodic, and the words he was saying were just breathtaking. The song was about believing in someone so much it made your heart ache. Arguing to catch a glimpse of their awe inspiring passion. Enjolras felt heat in his cheeks. This was about him. And it was beautiful.

The song was over way sooner than Enjolras would have liked it to have been. He could listen to Grantaire sing beautiful words like that for hours. He was left utterly speechless.

"So, uh, yeah. That was pretty sucky. I messed up like six times. It's not even that good," Grantaire rambled, running his hands through his curls out of nervous habit.

"Grantaire, that was the most beautiful song I've ever heard," Enjolras said, still in awe.

Grantaire beamed. "Oh, that can't be true." He pushed his hair behind his ear sheepishly.

"It was. Nothing can be more touching than something as personal as an original song. Grantaire, that was so so beautiful," Enjolras enthused.

Grantaire grinned from ear to ear. They sat there for a moment until Enjolras's stomach comically rumbled.

Grantaire laughed. "That brings us to cliché number five. Cooking together slash dinner date."

Enjolras looked over at the kitchen and noticed a hastly placed table cloth and table setting already set up. In the center of the table were the carnations from earlier sitting in the same mug and a few lit candles. Enjolras grinned.

"What are we cooking?" Enjolras asked.

"Spaghetti. But we have to make the sauce. Musichetta demanded it. She claims there's nothing more telling than preparing sauce with someone." Grantaire said. The ingredients were already laid out on the counter.

"Musichetta made the pasta with Joly and Bossuet a couple days ago. She had some extra. All the ingredients for the sauce are also from Cosette's garden." Grantaire explained. He pulled a crumbled note out of his pocket. "Directions from Chetta."

"I'll start boiling the water." Enjolras offered. He grabbed a pot, filled it with water, and placed it on the stove.

"I'll chop the onions. Can you chop the tomatos?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras nodded.

Surprisingly, they worked well together. Before they knew it, the sause was ready. Everything was productive until Enjolras accidentally flicked sauce on Grantaire's face.

"Oh, Grantaire! I'm so sorry," Enjolras said quickly.

Grantaire got an evil look on his eye. Soon enough they were flicking sauce back and forth at each other.

Grantaire glanced at the clock. "We should probably start eating. I still have a few more clichés to get through."

They sat down and ate the spaghetti they prepared. Enjolras asked Grantaire about how his artwork was going, and they had quite a nice chat as they ate. It was delightful.

They finished up and Grantaire tossed their dishes in the sink. Enjolras put the extra spaghetti in some tupperware to save for later.

"Alright, cliche number 6 is movie date. I didn't wanna do a big budget movie, because it didn't feel on brand. So I picked a friend's student senior thesis film I was in. It's a shitty horror movie. I feel like horror movies are the most cliché, anyway." Grantaire said, showing him a blank dvd case. He took the dvd out of the case and popped it inside the dvd player.

Then they both took a seat on the couch. "This movie isn't very scary, just so you know. But I'm probably gonna pretend to be scared anyway, because that's all part of the cliché." Grantaire informed him.

Grantaire was right. The movie wasn't scary at all. In fact he nearly laughed every time Grantaire was on screen, mostly because it was funny to see him acting. In the film, there was a very predictable jumpscare. Grantaire, living up to his word, pretend to be scared and cowered into Enjolras. Enjolras grinned and shook his head, wrapping his arm around Grantaire. They cuddled for the rest of the film.

"That was certainly interesting," Enjolras said after the film ended, stretching out his arms.

Grantaire laughed. "It was horrible."

"Oh, no. I bet you could have won an oscar for this," Enjolras joked.

Grantaire's laugh was melodic. Everything about him was, wasn't it? Why didn't Enjolras ever notice?

"Well, I regret to inform you we only have one cliché date left. You're gonna call me crazy for this, since it's so freezing out, but we're going for a walk on the beach." Grantaire said.

Enjolras normally would tell him want an absurd idea that was, but nothing about today was normal. It was surreal. So Enjolras didn't say a word in protest. All he said was: "Sounds lovely."

Grantaire smiled and they suited up in winter gear and headed out to the beach.

They went down by the water and began their stroll. "It would be way better if we could walk barefoot and feel the sand under our toes. Unfortunately, I can't change the weather," Grantaire lamented.

"The beach is lovely in any state," Enjolras said reassuringly.

They walked down the beach in comfortable silence. Eventually, Enjolras took Grantaire's hand. Grantaire looked at him curiously. Enjolras smiled. He looked at Grantaire in the moonlight for a moment. He was reminded of Grantaire one night in the Musain, drunkenly going on about how beautiful people looked in sunlight. Enjolras was annoyed at the time, granted it was interrupting a very important meeting. Enjolras pondered this for a moment and thought, people in the moonlight could look just as beautiful. Then he thought about today and how wonderful Grantaire had been. Grantaire isn't the sun, but he doesn't need to be. The sun isn't the only thing that's brilliant in this world. And just like how people can look pretty in the moonlight, the moonlight can be just as grand as the sun. You just have to actually look, and appreciate the moon for what it is. Grantaire is more like the moon than the sun, and Enjolras hadn't gotten a chance to appreciate that before today.

"Grantaire, today's been so wonderful. I really can't thank you enough. I had such a lovely time. You knocked my socks off, for sure. You spent so much time planning this and doing so much for me. You made everything by hand. I can see why this holiday means so much to people now, because if it drove you to do things like this, than it truly must be spectacular. I wish I'd been nicer to you in the past. I never saw how lovely you are before now, Grantaire. I hope to spend more time with you in the future," Enjolras said, grinning at him.

Grantaire stopped in his tracks, beaming at him. "Enjolras, I... It's really not much. It was selfish really. I wanted a nice Valentine's Day really badly. It was selfish."

Enjolras scoffed. "You wrote a song about me. I'd hardly call that selfish."

"I needed our friends to help me with everything. It's not like this was all me." Grantaire looked at his feet.

"Grantaire, you planned all this. That's so admirable. And there's no shame in asking friends for help. I couldn't accomplish anything without my friends there to support me." Enjolras met his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile. "I cannot thank you enough for today. I just wish I could do something for you in return."

Grantaire shook his head. "There's no need. I wanted to do all of this for you."

Enjolras made a disappointed grunt. Grantaire really did look beautiful in the moonlight. A smirk crept onto Enjolras's face as an idea began to form in his mind.

"I think I know how I can repay you," Enjolras stated.

Grantaire looked up. "How?"

Enjolras said no words. He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on Grantaire's lips.

Grantaire's jaw dropped in shock.

"I'd like to do this again, although I wanna treat you this time." Enjolras grinned. "And I'd like it to be a little more than platonic next time, as well."

Grantaire beamed. "Am I dreaming?" Grantaire said wistfully.

"No." Enjolras took his hand. "This is real life."

They could have kissed again. They very well might have. In fact, they most likey would have if not for Enjolras' phone buzzing in his pocket, ruining the moment. He made a tsk sound in annoyance and pulled out his phone.

 **Jehan** : So, how do you feel about Valentine's Day now? :)  
**Enjolras** : Oh, shush.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: omg happy valentines day! i wish i could have like started this before now but i didnt have the idea until this morning in physics :U. i wrote 4000+ words in a single day! that's the most i've written in a single day. i hope you all had lovely valentines days! thank u for reading. come say hi on tumblr, @ grantairetheskeptic :]


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